These computer Images represent infrared snapshots of Kuiper Belt dust as seen by a distant observer (Image: NASA/Goddard/Marc Kuchner and Christopher Stark)

Simulated images of the ancient Kuiper Belt bear a striking resemblance to this Hubble Space Telescope view of the dusty ring around Fomalhaut - a young star 25 light years away (Image: NASA/ESA/P. Kalas, Univ. of California, Berkeley)

Image By: NASA/Goddard/Marc Kuchner and Christopher Stark

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Article Summary

For the first time researchers have simulated images of sections of our Solar System as they may have appeared some 700 million years ago. Supercomputer modeling of tiny dust particles far out in space may also pave the way to the discovery of new planets. "We're hoping our models will help us spot Neptune-sized worlds around other stars," Said Marc Kuchner, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. who led the study.